Beauty & The Reaper
by fishnetsandwine
Summary: One-shot based a few months in the future, after Owen & Alex get to know each other some more. Alex is sent out to retrieve one of the "dirty thirty" and things go wrong - Owen goes to out to save her.


Owen found himself spending a whole lot more time at Division than he ever thought he would. A huge part of that was thanks to Alex. There was just something about her that drew him to her. He was constantly craving her presence - and it was just the same for Alex, though neither of them knew that. It was getting late, but they both had found themselves in the training center so they had decided to help each other out. Owen held the punching bag while Alex let off some steam. Her last punch hit so hard it knocked Owen off his balance, causing him to fall.

"Geez, remind me not to piss you off," he joked. Alex walked over to help him up. Owen grabbed her hand, then with a smirk on his face, pulled her down on the mat, pinning her.

"Oh, you're asking for it," Alex said slyly.

"That was the plan."

Before Alex could make her next move, Birkhoff's voice interrupted them. "When you two are done beating each other up, there's a meeting in operations."

"Raincheck?" Owen asked Alex, getting up and helping her to her feet.

"Just wait. I'll get you when you least expect it," she teased.

* * *

Michael, Nikita, Ryan, Birkhoff, Owen, and Alex all gathered around the large screen.

"Colleen Jensen - one of our rogue agents was spotted at a night club a few miles away," Ryan started.

"When I went through archives, turns out she works there as a bartender three nights a week. One of them being right now," Birkhoff finished.

Alex took a closer look at the image. "Wait a minute, I remember her. I trained with her. What's the address? I'll retrieve her."

Nikita looked worried. "Alex, are you sure that's a good idea? Last time you went undercover at a nigh club, Vlad -"

"Vladimir's dead now, so I don't have anything to worry about," Alex assured her. "I can handle this."

"Then I'm sending backup with you," Nikita said.

"If you do that, you're just going to cause a scene. And Ryan made it clear we need to be as quiet as possible," Alex told her. "Just trust me."

* * *

Alex entered the night club in search of Colleen. "Ops, this is Alex. I'm in the club."

Nikita and Birkhoff took charge of the mission, and Owen hung back to make sure Alex was okay. If Nikita ever suspected Owen's feelings for Alex, she never said anything.

Birkhoff watched the security cameras, searching out Colleen. "Any sign of her?" he asked.

"Not yet." Alex walked around, doing her best to ignore all of the drugs and alcohol surrounding her. This was bringing back some major deja vu, but she had to focus on the mission. She may have popped some pain pills, but she didn't want to get back into the hard drugs.

As if Nikita could read her mind, she asked, "How are you holding up in there?"

"I'm fine. Just need to focus on finding -" Alex's feed was cut off and they could see her in the camera subtly being pulled into a supply closet.

"Alex? Alex?!" Nikita yelled.

An unfamiliar woman's voice took the place of Alex's. "She's alive. Unconscious, but alive. At least for now."

"Colleen," Nikita knew it had to be her.

"You guys walked right into that - Amanda thought you would at least give me somewhat of a challenge," Colleen said with a sickening tone, like she was enjoying it.

"Amanda?" Owen asked. "If you hurt Alex, I will personally put a bullet through your brain."

"We'll be in the basement at the club. Come quietly or she dies." The feed went fuzzy.

"I'm going to get her," Owen stated, getting ready to run out the door.

"It's a set up, Owen," Nikita told him.

"I don't care. If we wait, who knows what she'll do to Alex!"

"I've personally experienced the torture of Amanda, and I'm with Owen. Every second counts. Who knows what she's trained Colleen to do," Birkhoff spoke up.

Nikita sighed, knowing they were right and only wanting to do what would save Alex. "Okay, you go in and retrieve her, but I'm keeping backup no further than a mile away."

Owen nodded and within a second, he was out the door.

* * *

Owen ran into the room, immediately aiming his gun at the rogue agent. His heart ached at the sight of Alex - hands tied behind her back, cloth wrapped around her mouth. Even worse, Colleen had a gun to her head.

"Careful what you do. Come any closer and she dies," Colleen warned.

"Not if I'm quick enough," Owen threatened.

"But you wouldn't want to risk that, now would you? Amanda had hoped you would come. She was counting on it, actually. See, we've been watching you and it doesn't take a genius to see how _fond_ you've grown of Alex here."

Owen looked down at Alex, slightly embarrassed but more worried. She just looked at him with pleading eyes.

"And you, Owen, are the first of many messages to Nikita," Colleen continued.

"Messages?"

"My objective today was to let Alex live… but to kill you." Colleen moved the gun from Alex's temple and aimed it at Owen.

Alex finally pulled free from the rope around her wrists, and knocked Colleen backwards, but not before both Colleen's and Owen's guns went off. Alex pulled the cloth away from her mouth and grabbed Colleen's fallen gun, shooting her to assure her death.

She quickly looked for Owen, who was on the ground with blood surrounding him. She rushed to his side, finding the wound. The bullet hit his chest and he was losing a lot of blood fast. Alex applied pressure with one hand and held his face in her other hand.

"Owen, stay with me! Owen!" Alex begged, tears suddenly pouring. She quickly alerted backup. "Owen's down! We need help!" He was fading out fast and her yelling for him to hold on turned into desperate sobs.

* * *

Alex stood outside of medical, waiting for someone to come out and tell her that Owen was going to be just fine.

Nikita came up behind her, resting a reassuring hand on her back. "You should probably get washed up," she suggested, looking at Alex's hands, which were covered in Owen's now dried blood.

"I need to wait here," she said, her eyes not moving from the covered window.

"Alex, they're doing the best that they can. Standing here and thinking of the worst isn't going to make the time go any faster. Believe me, I'm scared too, but for your own sanity, you need to leave. Go get a shower, hit a punching bag - anything to get your mind off of this."

At this, Alex looked at Nikita. She was getting ready to argue, but when she saw Nikita's tear-stained cheeks, she just nodded and walked away.

* * *

After managing to stop shaking long enough to shower off, an hour had passed. Alex immediately made her way back to medical. One of the doctor's was just walking out and she rushed up to him.

"Please tell me Owen's okay."

"He's going to be fine," he assured her. "No serious injuries - he just lost a lot of blood. He can have one visitor at a time -" Alex quickly started past him. "-but he needs his rest," the doctor trailed off, knowing there was no point.

As soon as she saw him lying on the bed, her eyes filled up. She wasn't quite sure what it was about Owen, but she seemed to wear her heart on her sleeve a lot of the time she was around him.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, confused but smiling.

Alex walked closer to him, pulling the chair up next to him and sitting. "I thought I lost you," she told him.

He put his hand up to her cheek. "You didn't. I'm right here. I'm fine," he assured her.

Alex smiled, leaning into his hand.

"Can I ask you something?" Alex asked, now holding Owen's hand in her lap. He nodded. "What Colleen said about you… and me," she started.

"What, about me being _fond_ of you?" he asked, chuckling at the term. When he saw Alex's expression was still serious, he hesitated. "Alex, do you even realize how incredible you are? I never wanted to put any pressure on you so I just figured if things were meant to work out, they would. But I mean, I kind of feel like beauty and the reaper, so I just figured -"

Owen was cut off by Alex's lips. He put his hand back on her cheek, kissing her fully. After a minute, they broke apart, smiles reaching their eyes.

Stating the obvious, Alex said, "Guess I'm pretty fond of you, too."


End file.
